By: Laura Bassein

Gorillas provoke great curiosity and interest for humans world-wide. Most of us only have the opportunity to see gorillas, if at all, behind the barriers of zoo cages. Next Tuesday evening you can meet a woman who spends much of her life studying gorillas, including visits to Africa where gorillas live in the wild.

Dr. Kelly Stewart, UC Davis Department of Anthropology Research Associate and Editor of Gorilla Conservation News, will present a free lecture titled "Gorilla Conservation in the 21st Century" Tuesday, October 20 at 7:30 pm at the Davis Senior Center, 646 A Street.

Dr. Stewart will discuss what the future holds for the gorillas of Africa. If you attend the lecture, you can learn how gorilla populations fare today and the challenges they face in the future. Don't miss this unique opportunity to explore the world of the awesome gorilla. For more information, call Explorit at (530)756-0191.

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Explorations of the plant world will fascinate the young and young at heart, during Explorit Science Center's exhibition "From Redbud to Redwood: Native Plant Science." Investigate native plants of California. Hone your own knowledge of basic botany. Then go for a nice fall walk before the rainy weather arrives. Perhaps with your new found knowledge of plants you'll enjoy those fantastic fall colors even more than usual.

Fall colors inspire poets, artists and scientists alike. Here in California we must look a little harder than folks in New England for those brilliant fall colors. Still, we do see the green leaves of summer turn yellow and red and brown as the cooler weather creeps up on us. Maybe you wonder how leaves change colors ... and why?

The green leaves of summer owe their color to sugar producing chlorophyll. These sugar factories begin to shut down as the nights grow cooler in the fall, and the green chlorophyll becomes depleted. Yellow pigments that were there all along, become more apparent as the green disappears.

Leaves turn red for a very different reason. The phloem (food conducting tissue) of some plants becomes inactive in response to cooler weather. However, photosynthesis continues to occur so sugars accumulate in the leaves. Scientists associate this sugar accumulation with the transformation of green leaves to red.

Scientists feel relatively comfortable with explaining how leaves change color. The question "why" proves more difficult. Unlike flower colors which often attract specific pollinators or colorful birds who attract mates, brilliant fall leaf colors have no known similar function. So poets, artists and scientists all still continue to delight in the mystery of this partially unexplained magic of fall colors.

After your outdoor plant adventure, come back to Explorit for another exploration of "From Redbud to Redwood: Native Plant Science." You'll likely discover more about plant science the second (or third) time around.

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Explorit Science Center is located at 3141 5th Street in East Davis. The current exhibition is From Redbud to Redwood: Native Plant Science. Public hours are Saturday from 11:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Sunday from 1:00 to 4:30 p.m., and Tuesday through Friday from 2:00 to 4:30 p.m. Regular admission is $3; members, teachers (with school ID) and children under 4 are free.